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Passport to Paris Artist Profiles

November 20, 2013 by Carleen Brice

The DAM is publishing a blog series that will highlight some of the artists whose work is on view in Passport to Paris. We will share a little about the artist’s biography and inspiration, and details about a key artwork in the exhibition. Check back to learn more about Paul Cézanne, Édouard Manet, Berthe Morisot, Claude Monet, and other superstars of French art whose work is on view in Passport to Paris.

Claude Monet moved to Paris in 1862 and worked in and around the city for the beginning of his career, briefly moving to his family home in Normandy in 1867 due to poverty. In 1870 he moved to London to escape the Franco-Prussian War.

Vincent van Gogh was born in the Netherlands in 1853 and lived there during his formational years as an artist. He briefly attended the Academie des Beaux Arts in Brussels and moved around the Netherlands, immersing himself in the lives of the peasants that he painted.

Edgar Degas was born in Paris in 1834 to a wealthy banking family. After spending three years in Italy copying Italian master paintings, he returned to Paris, focusing on a variety of contemporary subjects—including dancers, race horses, seascapes, and brothel scenes.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec worked in Paris from 1882 to his death in 1901. He is most known for his work between 1891 and 1900, when he lived in Montmartre, a neighborhood of Paris famous for its cabarets, cafes, nightclubs, and brothels.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s family moved to Paris when he was a child, and he worked there for the rest of his career. Always looking for new motifs to paint, he traveled extensively, visiting North Africa, Genoa, and many major European cities.

Berthe Morisot lived and worked primarily in the Rue des Moulins district of Paris. Her proximity to Paris’ museums and circle of artists gave her the opportunity to study under Camille Corot and become close friends with Édouard Manet, whose brother she eventually married.

Alfred Sisley was born and lived in France for most of his life, but inherited British nationality from his father and never received French citizenship. Although he was raised in Paris, he lived in the outskirts of the city for most of his life, finally settling near Fontainebleau in 1880.

Carleen Brice is a communications associate in the communications department at the Denver Art Museum. Carleen has been at the DAM since 2013. Her new happy place is the In Bloom exit shop.